Auseklis (redirected from Ritaja)

Auseklis 

(pseudonym of Mikelis Jekobovich Krogzemis). Born Feb. 6 (18), 1850, in Aloja, Valmiera Raion, Latvia; died Jan. 25 (Feb. 6), 1879, in St. Petersburg. Latvian poet.

Auseklis was born into a peasant family and became an elementary school teacher. He wrote poems of protest against the German barons and clergy. The collection Poems (1873) was published during his lifetime. His keen satires were published in the Dundury anthologies (editions of 1875–78, in St. Petersburg). Auseklis showed particular interest in the history, mythology, and customs of the Latvian people and in the landscape of his native country. The idealization of the past and of patriarchal society found in his work served as a protest against the oppressors.

WORKS

Raksti, vols. 1–2. Riga, 1888.
Kopoti raksti. Riga, 1923.
Izlase. Riga, 1955.

REFERENCE

Latviešu literatūros darbnieki. Riga, 1965.